Azernews.Az

By Nazrin Gadimova

The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) passed a resolution on the peaceful settlement of the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict on April 19.

Forty-four members of the Parliamentary Assembly undersigned the document.

Being convinced that a peaceful resolution of the conflict has no alternative, the PACE reiterates its continuous support to the efforts of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs to reach a lasting and just settlement to this conflict, according to the document.

“Therefore, we urge to respect the continuous calls made by the Minsk Group Co-Chairs not to undermine their mandate and complicate the ongoing negotiations,” the resolution reads.

The members of the Parliamentary Assembly urged all sides to undertake decisive steps and show the necessary political will to reach a negotiated settlement based on proposals of France, the U.S. and Russia.

“We share the concerns regarding the increase of tensions in the conflict zone. The use of heavy weaponry, such as mortars and rocket launchers, is unacceptable and presents a serious danger to civilian population. We deeply regret the loss of lives, including civilians,” the document reads.

MPs believe that the creation of a mechanism to investigate ceasefire violations together with other proposals of the OSCE MG will contribute to the reduction of tensions and the creation of a more favorable atmosphere for advancing peace talks.

Earlier, the PACE put two reports on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict to the vote. The assembly adopted the first document, a resolution titled “The inhabitants of frontier regions of Azerbaijan are deliberately deprived of water”, which dealt with the situation around the Sarsang reservoir.

Prepared by parliamentarian from Bosnia and Herzegovina Milica Markovic, the document noted that the residents of Azerbaijan’s border regions were faced with environmental and humanitarian problem given the problem with Sarsang reservoir, located in Nagorno-Karabakh.

However, the second document entitled “The escalation of violence in Nagorno-Karabakh and other occupied territories of Azerbaijan” and prepared by British MP Robert Walter was rejected with the majority of votes (66 pro and 71 con).

The report called for the withdrawal of Armenian armed forces and other irregular forces from Nagorno Karabakh and other occupied territories of Azerbaijan.

Moreover, the document called on both governments to refrain from using military force, called on the OSCE to establish an international peacekeeping force to maintain security in Nagorno-Karabakh, as well as to ensure safe return of those displaced from their residences. The document also envisaged creating a mechanism to investigate violations of the ceasefire.

Armenia captured Nagorno-Karabakh and seven surrounding regions from Azerbaijan in a war that followed the Soviet breakup in 1991. More than 20,000 Azerbaijanis were killed and nearly 1 million were displaced as a result of the war.

The OSCE Minsk Group acted as the only mediator in solving the conflict, proceeding talks based on the renewed Madrid principles. However, the peace talks have been largely fruitless so far despite the efforts of the co-chair countries over 20 years.

At the same time, the recent developments in the contact line of troops of the Armenian and Azerbaijani armies have once again proved that the existing status quo, which benefits Armenia, is unacceptable and unstable. Some experts believe that to achieve a progress in the peace talks on the conflict it is necessary to change the format of OSCE MG. They suppose that the co-chairs should confess their failure and resign. Other mediators or the conflicting sides themselves should deal with the problem, they urge.

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Nazrin Gadimova is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @NazrinGadimova

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